Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: MKR dominant again

The surge this week in MKR’s audiences is looking like a major turning point in this year’s ratings battle.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: MasterChef: The Professionals is dying on air on Ten; The Block All Stars is going to be an expensive OK for Nine, at best, but Seven’s My Kitchen Rules will dominate after its second two million plus metro and three million plus national audiences in a row last night.

MKR averaged 2.128 million in the five metro markets last night, down only 100,000 viewers from Monday night’s stunner. The national audience was 3.170 million with another massive audience in regional areas of 1.062 million. That was bigger than Monday night. TV land folk say MKR is now in the realm of The Voice last year on Nine and MasterChef’s fabulous second year. It is no longer a weekly series, but is event TV, which networks these days look for to anchor their business models in a ratings year.

As I said yesterday, the surge this week in MKR’s audiences is looking like a major turning point in this year’s ratings battle. As long as it continues to average more than two million metro viewers and huge regional and national audiences on three nights a week, it is going to make life tough for Nine and Ten.

As a result The Block All Stars was left to grab 952,000 metro viewers (959,000 on Monday), and 1.39 million nationally unchanged from Monday night and barely OK. Seven’s Home and Away (a cheap stalwart compared to The Block), had a bigger national audience for a second night in a row. But MasterChef: The Professionals fell to 533,000 metro watchers (and just 710,000 national viewers) from 627,000 on Monday night, a bad omen for the rest of this series and the new MasterChef later this year.

Worryingly for Ten, the ABC was third overall and in the main channels in Sydney (the biggest market in Australia and Ten’s “home” market). The ABC is now third overall, just as it was for the last four months of 2012. Ten was weak again in the regional markets last night, and that will not please its regional affiliate, Southern Cross, which is increasingly axioms about the cost/ratings performance of its agreement with Ten.

By the way, Ten’s new boss in Melbourne and the putative number two at the network Russel Howcroft started in his new gig down south a week ago yesterday. The last two nights of ratings would have been a real wake-up call for him.

Tonight:MKR on Seven, then the tired old movie Notting Hill. Nine has the third ODI between Australia and the Windies from Canberra. Ten has Glee and then a fresh movie called Morning Glory. ABC1 has a fresh (yes, fresh) QI and then a new show in Shock Horror Aunty (a clips show with some character) and then Agony of Life, a sort-of local version of grumpy people talking about life that made the UK Grumpy Old Men series so endearing at times.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 3.170 million.

Packed To The Rafters (Seven) — 2.440 million.

Nine News — 1.718 million.

Seven News — 1.640 million.

Home and Away — 1.486 million.

The Big Bang Theory (Nine) — 1.423 million.

ABC1 News — 1.422 million.

The Block All Stars (Nine) — 1.391 million.

Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.282 million.

A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.160 million.

The Metro Winners:

My Kitchen Rules (Seven, 7.30pm) — 2.128 million.

Packed To The Rafters (Seven, 8.45pm) — 1.547 million.

Seven News — 1.199 million.

Nine News — 1.997 million.

Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.083 million.

The Losers: Didn’t like food on TV last night? Didn’t like renovations, or local drama? Well bad luck, because that is what you got. Ten will be relieved it did better than Monday night, but not in the weak outing for the fresh episode of NCIS (618,000 metro and 893,000 nationally) which is aimed more at 25 to 54s and not Ten’s core demos of 16 to 39 and 18 to 49s. The program used by be a 1.2 million metro and 1.4- 1.5 million national giant.Metro News & CA: Seven’s phony hour bulletin can’t disguise the fact that the real problem for the network is the woeful 6pm performance in Melbourne and Sydney. Seven lost Melbourne last night by 132,000 viewers (408,000 to 276,000) and Sydney by 75,000 (351,000 to 276,000). Seven won Perth by a massive 154,000, but that wasn’t enough to offset the black holes in Melbourne and Sydney. The winning 2000 margin in the metro markets was really weak and was reversed nationally. There should be no comparison between TT and ACA, although it has to be noted that in Melbourne, the second half of the hour news did a lot better last night than TT was doing towards the end of 2012.

Seven News — 1.199 million.

Nine News — 1.997 million.

Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 1.083 million.

A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 984,000.

ABC1 News (7pm) — 921,000.

7.30 (ABC1, 7.30pm) — 921,000.

Ten News (5pm) — 671,000.

Foreign Correspondent (ABC1, 8pm) — 538,000.

The Project (Ten, 6.30pm) — 457,000.

Ten Late News (10.30pm) — 201,000.

SBS ONE News (6.30pm) — 154,000.

Lateline (ABC1, 10.30pm) — 166,000.

The Business (ABC1, 11.05pm rpt.) 98,000 — + 28,000 on News 24.

SBS ONE Late News (10.30pm) — 96,000.

The Drum (News 24, 10pm, rpt.) — 51,000.

In the morning: A normal morning, not much happening.

Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 353,000.

Today (Nine, 7am) — 322,000.

The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 160,000.

Mornings (Summer, 9 am) — 78,000.

News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — - 50,000 +37,000 on News 24.

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 36.1%, from Nine (three) on 25.6%, Ten (three) was on 16.6%, the ABC (four) was on 16.1% and SBS (three) was on 5.6%. Seven leads the week with 33.2% from Nine on 26.8%, Ten on 18.1% and the ABC with 16.9%. Main Channels. Seven won easily with a share of 31.7% from Nine on 19.0%, Ten was on 11.9%, just ahead of ABC 1 on 11.8%. SBS ONE ended with 4.2%. Seven leads the week with 27.5% from Nine on 20.8%, Ten is on 13.3% and ABC 1 is on 12.9%.

Metro Digital: GO won easily with a share of 4.1% from Eleven, Gem and 7TWO on 2.5%, ABC2 was on 2.4%, ONE was on 2.2%, 7mate ended on 1.9%, SBS TWO, 1.4%, News 24, 1.0%, ABC3, 0.9% and NITV, 0.1%. The 11 channels had an FTA share last night of a low 21.5% as viewing levels remain subdued. GO leads the week with 3.7% from 7TWO on 3.2%.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels) won with a share of 30.0%, from Nine (three) on 21.3%, Ten (three) was on 13.8%, the ABC (four) was on 13.4% and SBS (three) was on 4.7%. The 16 FTA channels had a total share last night of 85.0%, with the 11 digital channels on a low 17.8% and the five main channels sharing 67.6%, Pay TV’s share jumped to 15.0% for the 200 plus channels on Foxtel.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox8 — 2.7%.

LifeStyle — 2.4%.

TV1 — 2.3%.

UKTV, A&E — 1.8%.

Comedy Channel — 1.7%.

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

Eastenders (UKTV) — 71,000.

Come Dine With Me Australia (LifeStyle) — 63,000.

New Tricks (UKTV) — 63,000.

Coronation St (UKTV) - 60,000.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Arena) — 51,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channels) won with a share of 37.7%, from WIN/NBN (three) on 26,5%, The ABC (three) was on 16.6%, SC Ten (three) was on 14.7%, and SBS (three) was on 4.5%. The main channels were won by Prime/7Qld on 31.4%, with WIN/NBN on 17.8%, ABC1 was on 12.0% and SC Ten lingered on 10.1%. GO won the digitals with 5.0% from Gem with 3.4% and 7TWO on 3.2%. The 11 digital channels had an FTA share last night of an low 26.2%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 35.2% from WIN/NBN on 28.6%. The ABC is on 16.3% and SC Ten is on 15.3%.

Major Metro Markets: A clean sweep (overall and the main channels) by Seven in all five metro markets. The ABC/ABC1 were third in Sydney and Adelaide. The ABC was third overall in Melbourne and third in the main channels in Perth. Ten was third in other markets. GO had a clean sweep of the five metro markets in the digital channels. Seven leads the week everywhere from Nine and Ten, except in Sydney where the ABC has pushed Ten out of third.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Didn’t like food on TV last night? Didn’t like renovations, or local drama? Well bad luck, because that is what you got.

Fortunately, there’s this great thing called the Internet. It had a *much* better offering on last night.
Kevin Spacey in “House of Cards”, made the “conventional” offerings look as lame as they truly are.